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G7 leaders during the 2014 emergency meeting about the Russian annexation of Crimea, hosted by the Netherlands

The concept of a forum for the world's major industrialized countries emerged before the 1973 oil crisis. On Sunday, 25 March 1973, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, George Shultz, convened an informal gathering of finance ministers from West Germany Helmut Schmidt, France Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, and the United Kingdom Anthony Barber before an upcoming meeting in Washington, D.C. When running the idea past President Nixon, he noted that he would be out of town and offered use of the White House. The meeting was subsequently held in the library on the ground floor.[4] Taking their name from the setting, this original group of four became known as the "Library Group".[5] In mid-1973, at the World Bank-IMF meetings, Shultz proposed the addition of Japan to the original four nations, who agreed.[4] The informal gathering of senior financial officials from the United States, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Japan, and France became known as the "Group of Five".[6]

Then, in 1974, President Pompidou of France died and his immediate successor refused to run in the special election, making three changes of heads of state in France in one year. Chancellor Brandt of West Germany was forced to resign in a scandal, and his successor lasted only nine days making three changes in West Germany as well. Plus Then President Nixon of the United States and Prime Minister Tanaka of Japan were forced to resign in disgrace. Queen Elizabeth II was forced to broker a deal to form a government after a hung election, which was so unstable that another election the same year had to take place, and finally, the traditionally unstable government of 1st Italian Republic changed Prime Ministers yet again. American President Gerald Ford, who had been a mere Congressman a year before, asked some other new heads of state/government to hold a retreat the following year to get to know one another.

So, in 1975, a summit hosted by France brought together representatives of six governments: France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Schmidt and Giscard d'Estaing were heads of government in their respective countries, and since they both spoke fluent English, it occurred to them that they, and British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and U.S. President Gerald Ford could get together in an informal retreat and discuss election results and the issues of the day. In late spring, d'Estaing of France invited the heads of government from West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States to a summit in Château de Rambouillet;[7] the annual meeting of the six leaders was organized under a rotating presidency, forming the Group of Six (G6). In 1976, with Wilson out as prime minister of Britain, Schmidt and Gerald Ford felt an English speaker with more experience was needed, so Pierre Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, the next largest advanced economy after the first six, was invited to join the group[8] and the group became the Group of Seven (G7).[7] Since first invited by the United Kingdom in 1977 the European Union has been represented by the president of the European Commission, and the leader of the country that holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union[9] and the Council President now also regularly attends.

Until the 1985 Plaza Accord no one outside a tight official circle knew when the seven finance ministers met and what they agreed. The summit was announced the day before and a communiqué was issued afterwards.[10]

Following 1994's G7 summit in Naples, Russian officials held separate meetings with leaders of the G7 after the group's summits. This informal arrangement was dubbed the Political 8 (P8) – or, colloquially, the G7+1. At the invitation of Prime Minister of the United KingdomTony Blair and President of the United States Bill Clinton,[11] Russian President Boris Yeltsin was invited first as a guest observer, later as a full participant. After the 1997 meeting Russia was formally invited to the next meeting and formally joined the group in 1998, resulting in a new governmental political forum, the Group of Eight or G8.[7] The Russian Federation, in fact, had and has limited net national wealth and financial weight compared to the other members of the G8. Russia also has never been a major advanced economy according to the IMF.[12][13] However, the Russian Federation was ejected from the G8 political forum in March 2014 following the Russian annexation of Crimea.[14]

The organization was founded to facilitate shared macroeconomic initiatives by its members in response to the collapse of the exchange rate 1971, during the time of the Nixon shock, the 1970s energy crisis and the ensuing recession.[15]

Since 1975, the group meets annually on summit site to discuss economic policies; since 1987, the G7 Finance Ministers have met at least semi-annually, up to 4 times a year at stand-alone meetings.[16]

In 1997, the G7 provided $300 million dollars to the effort to build the containment of the reactor meltdown at Chernobyl.

In 1999, the G7 decided to get more directly involved in "managing the international monetary system" through the Financial Stability Forum, formed earlier in 1999 and the G-20, established following the summit, to "promote dialogue between major industrial and emerging market countries".[18] The G7 also announced their plan to cancel 90% of bilateral, and multilateral debt for the HIPC, totaling $100 billion. In 2005 the G7 announced debt reductions of "up to 100%" to be negotiated on a "case by case" basis.[19]

In 2008 the G7 met twice in Washington, D.C. to discuss the global financial crisis of 2007–2008[20] and in February 2009 in Rome.[21][22] The group of finance ministers pledged to take "all necessary steps" to stem the crisis.[23]

On 2 March 2014, the G7 condemned the "Russian Federation's violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine."[24] The G7 stated "that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) remains the institution best prepared to help Ukraine address its immediate economic challenges through policy advice and financing, conditioned on needed reforms", and that the G7 was "committed to mobilize rapid technical assistance to support Ukraine in addressing its macroeconomic, regulatory and anti-corruption challenges."[24] On 24 March 2014, the G7 convened an emergency meeting in response to the Russian Federation's annexation of Crimea at the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, the Catshuis in The Hague. This location was chosen because all G7 leaders were already present to attend the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit hosted by the Netherlands. This was the first G7 meeting neither taking place in a member nation nor having the host leader participating in the meeting.[25] On 4 June 2014 leaders at the G7 summit in Brussels, condemned Moscow for its "continuing violation" of Ukraine's sovereignty, in their joint statement and stated they were prepared to impose further sanctions on Russia.[26] This meeting was the first since Russia was expelled from the G8 following its annexation of Crimea in March.[26]

The annual G7 leaders summit is attended by the heads of government.[27] The member country holding the G7 presidency is responsible for organizing and hosting the year's summit. The serial annual summits can be parsed chronologically in arguably distinct ways, including as the sequence of host countries for the summits has recurred over time and series.[28] Generally every country hosts the summit once every 7 years.[29]

Formation of the G8+5 starts, when South Africa was invited. Until the 38th G8 summit in 2012, it has been invited to the Summit annually without interruption. Also, with permission from a G8 leader, other nations were invited to the Summit on a periodical basis for the first time. Nigeria, Algeria and Senegal accepted their invitations here. The World Health Organization was also invited for the first time.[32]

The G8+5 was unofficially made, when China, India, Brazil, and Mexico were invited to this Summit for the first time. South Africa has joined the G8 Summit, since 2000, until the 2012 edition. Other first-time nations that were invited by the French president included: Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Switzerland.[32]

A record number of leaders from 12 different nations accepted their invitations here. Amongst a couple of veteran nations, the others were: Ghana, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, Yemen and Uganda.[32] Also, the state funeral of former President Ronald Reagan took place in Washington during the summit.

The G8+5 was officially formed. On the second day of the meeting, suicide bombers killed 52 people on the London Underground and a bus. Nations that were invited for the first time were Ethiopia and Tanzania. The African Union and the International Energy Agency made their debut here.[32] During the 31st G8 summit in United Kingdom, 225,000 people took to the streets of Edinburgh as part of the Make Poverty History campaign calling for Trade Justice, Debt Relief and Better Aid. Numerous other demonstrations also took place challenging the legitimacy of the G8.[42]

The summit was originally planned for Chicago, along with the NATO summit, but it was announced officially on 5 March 2012, that the G8 summit will be held at the more private location of Camp David and at one day earlier than previously scheduled.[56] Also, this is the second G8 summit, in which one of the leaders, Vladimir Putin, declined to participate. This G8 summit concentrated on the core leaders only; no non-G8 leaders or international organizations were invited.

As in 2012, only the core members of the G8 attended this meeting. The four main topics that were discussed here were trade, government transparency, tackling tax evasion, and the ongoing Syrian crisis.[59]

G7 summit as an alternative meeting without Russia in 2014 due to association with Crimean crisis.[60] The 2014 G8 summit in Sochi was cancelled and re-located to Brussels, Belgium without Russia.[61] Emergency meeting in March 2014 in The Hague.

The G7 leaders aim to address challenges affecting the growth of the world economy, like slowdowns in emerging markets and drops in price of oil. The G7 also issued a warning on the United Kingdom that "a UK exit from the EU would reverse the trend towards greater global trade and investment, and the jobs they create and is a further serious risk to growth".[68] Commitment to an EU–Japan Free Trade Agreement.

G7 leaders emphasized common endeavours: to end the Syrian crisis, to fulfill the UN mission in Libya and reducing the presence of ISIS, ISIL and Da'esh in Syria and Iraq. North Korea was urged to comply with UN resolutions, Russian responsibility was stressed for Ukrainian conflict. Supporting economic activity and ensuring price stability was demanded while inequalities in trade and gender were called to be challenged. It was agreed to help countries in creating conditions that address the drivers of migration: ending hunger, increasing competitiveness and advancing global health security.[71]

It took place at the Manoir Richelieu. Prime Minister Trudeau announced five themes for Canada's G7 presidency which began in January 2018. Climate, along with commerce trades, was one of the main themes. “Working together on climate change, oceans and clean energy” [73] The G7 members' final statement contains 28 points. US President Donald Trump didn't agree to the economic section of the final statement.[74] The G7 members also announced to recall sanctions and to be ready to take further restrictive measures against Russian Federation for the failure of Minsk Agreement's complete implementation.[75]

The G7 is composed of the seven wealthiest advanced countries. The People's Republic of China, according to its data, would be the second-largest with the 16.4% of the world net wealth,[2] but is excluded because the IMF and other main global institutions do not consider China an advanced country and because of its relatively low net wealth per adult and HDI.[81][12] As of 2017 Crédit Suisse reports the G7 (without the European Union) represents above 62% of the global net wealth.[82] Including the EU the G7 represents over 70% of the global net wealth.[83]

6 of the 9 largest nuclear energy producers (United States, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, UK), although Germany announced in 2011 that it will close all of its nuclear power plants by 2022.[91] Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan shut down all of its nuclear reactors.[92] However, Japan restarted several nuclear reactors, with the refueling of other reactors underway.

7 of the 10 top donors to the UN budget for the 2016 annual fiscal year.

In March 2014 Russian Federation was suspended by G7 members from the political forum G8 following the annexation of Crimea. After the suspension, on January 2017 Russian Federation decided permanently to leave the G8. It was confirmed in June 2018.[95][96][97][98][99]

In 2015, despite Germany's immense efforts to prevent it and despite the remote location of the summit, the luxury hotel Schloss Elmau at the foot of the Wetterstein mountains at an altitude of 1,008 m (3,307 ft) above sea level, about 300 of the 7500 protesters led by the group 'Stop-G7' managed to reach the 3 m high and 7 km long security fence surrounding the summit location. The protesters questioned the legitimacy of the G7 to make decisions that could affect the whole world. Authorities had banned demonstrations in the closer area of the summit location and 20,000 policemen were on duty in Southern Bavaria to keep activists and protesters from interfering with the summit.[100][101]

The 2018 meeting in Charlevoix, Canada, was marred by fractious negotiations concerning tariffs and Donald Trump's unorthodox position that Russia should be reinstated to the political forum G8, despite its limited national wealth and its lack of an advanced economy according to the IMF. The Trump administration had just imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on many countries, including European countries that are fellow members of the G7, and Canada, the host country for the 2018 meeting. Trump arrived late, left the meeting early, expressed dismay at Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau for holding a press conference in which Canada restated its position on tariffs (a public criticism of Trump's economic policy), and directed his representatives at the meeting to not sign the economic section of the joint communique that is typically issued at the conclusion of the meeting. An opinion writer at the Washington Post, Max Boot, opined that Trump had turned the meeting into a confrontation between the "G-6 versus the G-1."[102] and economist Paul Krugman suggested that it probably had more to do with whatever hold Putin has over Trump personally.[103]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel described Trump's behavior as a "depressing withdrawal," while French President Emmanuel Macron invited him "to be serious."[104] In the final statement signed by all members except the US, G7 announced its intention to recall sanctions and to be ready to take further restrictive measures within the next months against the Russian Federation for its failure to completely implement the Minsk Agreement.[75]

^ ab"Van Rompuy and Barroso to both represent EU at G20". EUobserver.com. 19 March 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2012. "The permanent president of the EU Council, former Belgian premier Herman Van Rompuy, also represents the bloc abroad in foreign policy and security matters...in other areas, such as climate change, President Barroso will speak on behalf of the 27-member club."